Hamilton goalkeeper Gary Woods is happy to swap praise for points if it means Accies grab another ugly win over Motherwell.

The Englishman was fed up seeing his side’s encouraging performances go unrewarded this season.

So he was relieved when Martin Canning’s men finally picked up their first win of 2018 against Partick Thistle after opening the year with five straight defeats.

That 2-1 win over Jags last month has moved Hamilton out of the bottom two and Woods hopes the gritty performance will be the template that will steer them away from relegation danger.

Speaking ahead of Well’s visit to the SuperSeal Stadium for Saturday’s Lanarkshire derby, Woods said: “At this stage of the season it’s not about turning up and playing well – it’s about getting the three points any way you can.

“That’s what happened against Thistle. It wasn’t a good game for the neutral or for anyone involved in it.

“But given where we are and the time of year, we just had to make sure we got the points and thankfully we did.

“There were loads of time this season and last when we played well but didn’t get a result. We’d batter teams but get beat 1-0 and that’s so frustrating.

“It’s always nice to play pretty football but at the end of the day we’re in a points business and that’s the way football works.

“We found out against Thistle we can win ugly and at the end of the day, we want to win points – not praise for a good performance.

“Hopefully we’ve now found a way to ensure we can still pick up a result even if we’re not playing well.”